Automotive door latch



Feb. 21, 1967 R. N. PETERS 3,305,258

AUTOMOTIVE DOOR LATCH Filed Dec. 7, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 yQobbemnv 06(A wommsyi/ Feb. 21, 1967 PETERS AUTOMOTIVE DOOR LATCH 2 Sheets-Sheet 2Filed Dec. '7, 1964 VIII/(1111111011..

\ NVEAJTOM v new CRTTQRNEX/ The present invention relates to a latch ofthe type commonly used for the doors of an automotive vehicle and, moreparticularly, to a latch which may be released from the inside as by theconventional remote control handle or from the outside by a push buttonor a handle. In some instances, latches of this type have been made witha free-wheeling locking arrangement. In other words, the latch is lockedby disconnecting the parts of the latch so that the push button willmake an idle motion and cannot damage the latch when forced.

The general object of the invention is to provide a latch of the abovecharacter with a new and improved freewheeling locking arrangement whichis comparatively simple and inexpensive in construction but whicheffectively locks and unlocks the latch.

A more detailed object is to connect the parts by a pin and a slot andto arrange the parts so that the pin may selectively be set to followthe slot whereby the pin makes an idle motion and the latch is locked.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent fromthe following detailed description taken in connection with theaccompanying drawings, in which FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of anautomobile door utilizing a latch constructed in accordance with thepresent invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view taken along the line 2-2 in FIG. 1,the parts being in the unlocked position.

FIG. 3 is a section view taken along the line 33 in FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary view similar to FIG. 2 but shows the parts inthe unlatching position.

FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG. 3 but with the parts in the lockedposition.

FIG. 6 is a view similar to FIG. 4 but with the parts in the lockedposition.

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary perspective view of parts of the latch.

FIG. 8 is a sectional view taken along the line S8 in FIG. 2.

As shown in the drawings for purposes of illustration, the invention isembodied in a latch of the type commonly used for the door it of avehicle such as an automobile. In general, the catch is mountedinteriorly of the door with a shaft 11 projecting through the end wall12 of the door and carrying a latching member 13. The latter, in thepresent instance, is a rotary member keyed to the shaft 11 and formedwith gear teeth 14 (FIG. 8) which coact with a suitable striker (notshown) mounted on the vehicle frame. Herein, the shaft 11 is journaledon one leg 15 of an L-shaped support or bracket 16, the leg 15 beingsecured to the inside of the wall 12 while the other leg 17 of thebracket extends alongside the inner wall of the door. A pawl 18 in theform of a bell crank lever is fulcrumed by a stub shaft 19 to turn aboutan axis paralleling the axis of the shaft 11 and includes a tooth 2tintegral with one arm 21 of the bell crank lever to engage one or theother of the teeth 22 and 23 of a ratchet 24 which is fast on the shaft11. When the pawl tooth 21 engages the ratchet tooth 22, the door is inthe fully latched position and the door is latched in the usual safetyposition when the pawl tooth 20 engages the tooth 23 on the ratchet.

tes Patent 0 33%,258 Patented Feb. 21, 1967 The pawl 18 is biased intoengagement with the ratchet 24 by a contractile spring 25 which actsbetween a circular flange 26 on the ratchet and a flange 27 on the pawllever. The latch may be released from outside the vehicle by theconventional push button 28 (FIGS. 1 and 2) WhlCh abuts a flange 29 onan operating or contactor lever 30 fulcrumed on the stub shaft 19. Whenthe latch is unlocked, the turning of the contactor 30 is transmitted tothe pawl 18 to swing the tooth 20 away from the teeth 22 and 23 as shownin FIG. 4. The contactor is urged toward the latching or uprightposition (FIG. 2) by a torsion spring 31 which is anchored at One end tothe stub shaft 19, the other end bearing against the flange 29 of thecontactor. The latch also may be released from the inside by the usualremote control lever 32 which is connected by a link 33 to a remotecontrol handle (not shown). When turned clockwise, the remote controllever engages an offset portion 34 of the second arm 35 of the pawllever 18 and turns the latter downwardly to swing the pawl tooth 20 outof engagement with the ratchet 24.

In accordance with the present invention, the latch is locked by a novelfree-wheeling arrangement, that is, the contactor lever 30 turns thepawl 18 when the latch is unlocked but the contactor lever makes an idlemotion without turning the pawl when the latch is locked so that thelatch is not damaged if the push button 28 is forced when the latch islocked. To this end, the contactor is coupled to the pawl by a pin 36and a slot 37 which is eccentric relative to the stub shaft 19 and thecontactor is shiftable on this shaft. Thus, when the contactor isunrestrained, it will shift relative to the stub shaft and the pin 36will follow the slot 37 without turning the pawl. On the other hand, ifthe contactor is held against shifting, the pin 36 cannot travel alongthe slot as the contactor turns and, as a result, the pin transmits theturning of the contactor to the pawl so that the latter turns to releasethe latch.

Herein, the pin 36 projects laterally from the contactor and into acurved slot 37 which is in the other arm 35 of the pawl lever and whichis eccentric relative to the stub shaft 19. The fulcruming of thecontactor 30 on the shaft 19 is accomplished by means of a slot 38 (FIG.7) formed in the contactor and receiving the stub shaft. Thus, when thecontactor is turned by depressing the push button 28, the pin 36 followsthe slot 37 and the contactor shifts to the left as viewed in FIG. 6. Asa result, the contactor makes an idle motion and the pawl 18 remains inengagement with the ratchet 24. When, however, the contactor isrestrained against such shifting, the pin 36 transmits the turningmotion of the contactor to the pawl and this swings the pawl out ofengagement with the ratchet to permit opening of the door.

In order to restrain and release the contactor 30 selectively, anupright locking lever 39 is fulcrumed intermediate its ends on the leg17 of the bracket 16 by means of a stud 40- to swing about an axis whichis at right angles to the axis of the pawl 18. In its unlocked positionas illustrated in FIG. 3, the upper arm 41 of the locking lever isdisposed adjacent the bracket leg 15 and directly in front of the end ofan arm 42 (FIG. 7) on the contactor 30 and, in this position, thelocking lever covers a slot 43 (FIG. 5) in the bracket leg 17. As aresult, the arm 42 engages an arcuate surface 44 on the locking lever asthe contactor is turned by the push button 28 and this prevents thecontactor from shifting forward as permitted by the slot 38. The pin 36,therefore, transmits the turning motion to the pawl 18 which swings outof engagement with the ratchet 24. When the locking lever is turnedcounterclockwise to the locked position as shown in FIG. 5, the arm 42may project through the slot 43 whereby the contactor, when turned,slides forward on the stub shaft 19 and makes an idle motion withoutturning the pawl.

The locking lever 39 is 'biased toward the locked and unlocked positionsby an over-center spring 45 which acts between the bracket 16 and thelocking lever. Herein, the spring 45 is a coiled torsion spring disposedbetween the locking lever and the leg 17 of the bracket and the ends ofthe spring are anchored by projecting the end 46 through a hole 47 inthe locking lever arm 48 and the end 49 through a hole 50 in the bracketleg 35. Thus, as the locking lever is turned away from the unlockedposition (FIG. 3) toward the locked position (FIG. the end 46 of thespring 45 moves from the left to right until it crosses the center linewhich extends between the spring end 49 and the center of the stud 40.As the spring crosses center, it snaps the locking lever to the lockedposition. The same snap action is obtained when the lever is turned inthe opposite direction.

As is customary with latches of this type, the locking lever 39 may beturned back and forth from outside the door by a key and from insideeither by a garnish molding button 51 (FIG. 1) or the remote controlhandle (not shown). Thus, a square shaft 52 (FIGS. 2 and 6) which may beturned by a key carries an arm 53 (FIG. 3) projecting into a notch 54 inthe locking lever arm 48 so that the locking lever is turned back andforth by the arm 53 by turning the shaft 52. Additionally, the lockinglever may be turned by lifting or depressing the garnish molding button51 which is connected to the lower arm 48 of the locking lever by a link55.

The remote control handle is connected by the link 33 (FIG. 3) to thelower arm 56 of the remote control lever 32 and an abutment 57 on thisarm engages the arm 48 of the locking lever 39 when the latter is in theunlocked position and the remote control lever 32 is turnedcounterclockwise as viewed in FIG. 3. This swings the locking lever tothe locked position. If the lever 32 is turned in the opposite directionwhen the locking lever is in the locked position, the upper arm 58 ofthe lever 32 abuts the upper arm 41 of the locking lever and swings thelatter toward the unlocked position. Upon continued turning of the lever32, the arm 58 engages the laterally otfset extension 34 of the arm 35of the pawl 18 so that the pawl is swung out of engagement with theratchet 24 and the latch is released, the extension 34 being guided by aslot 59 in the bracket wall 17.

It will be observed that, with a latch constructed according to theinvention, the latch is locked with a freewheeling action but, at thesame time, the construction of the latch is comparatively simple andinexpensive. Thus, this action is achieved simply by the use of the pin36 and the eccentric slot 37 and by mounting the contactor 30 on thestub shaft 19 by means of the slot 38 which normally permits thecontactor to shift. In this way, the usual locking lever 39 may be usedselectively either to block the contactor against shifting or to releasethe cont-actor. Such releasing and blocking locks and unlocks the latch.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a latch, the combination of, a latching element, a shaft laterallyspaced from said latching element, a pawl lever fulcrumed on said shaftto turn into and out of engagement with said latching element therebyselectively to hold and release the latching element, an operating leverhaving an elongated slot which receives said shaft whereby the operatinglever may turn about the shaft and shift transversely of the shaft, acurved slot formed in said pawl lever eccentrically relative to saidshaft, a pin rigid with said operating lever and projecting into saidcurved slot whereby the operating lever when turned shifts on said shaftand the pin follows the curved slot while said pawl lever remains inengagement with said latching element, and a locking member movable intoand out of a position in which it blocks the shifting of said operatinglever whereby said pin transmits the turning of the operating lever tosaid pawl lever to release said latching element.

2. In a latch, the combination of, a latching element, a shaft laterallyspaced from said latching element, a pawl lever fulcrumed on said shaftto turn into and out of engagement with said latching element therebyselectively to hold and release the latching element, an operating leverhaving a first slot which receives said shaft whereby the operatinglever may turn about the shaft and shift transversely of the shaft, asecond slot formed in one of said levers eccentrically relative to saidshaft, a pin rigid with the other of said levers and projecting intosaid second slot whereby the operating lever when turned shifts on saidshaft and the pin follows the second slot while said pawl lever remainsin engagement with said latching element, and a locking member movableinto and out of a position in which it blocks the shifting of saidoperating lever whereby said pin transmits the turning of the operatinglever to said pawl lever to release said latching element.

3. In a latch, the combination of, a latching element, a first membermounted to turn about a predetermined axis selectively to hold andrelease said latching element, a second member mounted to turn aboutsaid axis, means supporting said second member for bodily shiftingtransversely of said axis, a slot formed in one of said memberseccentrically of said axis, a pin rigid with the other of said membersand projecting into said slot whereby said second member shifts and thepin follows said slot upon turning of the second member, and a lockingelement movable into and out of a position in which it blocks shiftingof said second member whereby said pin transmits turning of the secondmember to said first member to release said latching element.

4. In a latch, the combination of, a latching element, a first membermounted to turn about a predetermined axis selectively to hold andrelease said latching element, a second member mounted to turn aboutsaid axis, means supporting one of said members for bodily shiftingtransversely of said axis, a slot formed in one of said memberseccentrically of said axis and a pin rigid with the other of saidmembers and projecting into said slot whereby the shiftable membershifts and the pin follows said sl'ot upon turning of said secondmember, and a locking element movable into and out of a position inwhich it blocks shifting of the shiftable member whereby said pintransmits turning of said second member to said first member to releasesaid latching element.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,728,214 12/1955 Craig.

2,916,318 12/1959 Van Voorhees 292280 2,987,907 6/1961 Cockburn et al.

3,027,185 3/1962 Allen et al. 292-280 3,121,580 2/1964 Di Salvo et al.

EDWARD C. ALLEN, Primary Examinr.

RICHARD E. MOORE, Assistant Examiner.

4. IN A LATCH, THE COMBINATION OF, A LATCHING ELEMENT, A FIRST MEMBERMOUNTED TO TURN ABOUT A PREDETERMINED AXIS SELECTIVELY TO HOLD ANDRELEASE SAID LATCHING ELEMENT, A SECOND MEMBER MOUNTED TO TURN ABOUTSAID AXIS, MEANS SUPPORTING ONE OF SAID MEMBERS FOR BODILY SHIFTINGTRANSVERSELY OF SAID AXIS, A SLOT FORMED IN ONE OF SAID MEMBERSECCENTRICALLY OF SAID AXIS AND A PIN RIGID WITH THE OTHER OF SAIDMEMBERS AND PROJECTING INTO SAID SLOT WHEREBY THE SHIFTABLE MEMBERSHIFTS AND THE PIN FOLLOWS SAID SLOT UPON TURNING OF SAID SECOND MEMBER,AND A LOCKING ELEMENT MOVABLE INTO AND OUT OF A POSITION IN WHICH ITBLOCKS SHIFTING OF THE SHIFTABLE MEMBER WHEREBY SAID PIN TRANSMITSTURNING OF SAID SECOND MEMBER TO SAID FIRST MEMBER TO RELEASE SAIDLATCHING ELEMENT.